Drea's Exciting First Year
by Dreatonkslupin
Summary: Drea is in her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. What scares her the most right now is that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened.
1. The Old Man

The Old Man

I sat in my room knitting while listening to the radio. My mother had always said it was good to have a hobby. I looked out the window of our flat and saw the busy streets of London beneath it. Father had left us two years ago to the day, and I thought today would be a day of quiet reflection. Mum took the day off work, even though we couldn't afford it, and said we would go do something fun. I started to think back when father left us.

We were in our house and my parents started to get into a fight about me. This usually happened when something odd had happened. That day, a girl twice my size came up to me with the intent of beating me up. I stood rooted to the spot, mostly out of fear. When she was within a foot of me, she suddenly was blasted off her feet. It was like I had a protective shield around me that she couldn't penetrate. She went to the teacher and I got sent home early that day for knocking her down.

I sat at the top of the steps looking down through the slits of the banister. Father had a few suitcases packed and he was throwing his hands in the air.

"There is something wrong with her!" my father had yelled.

"There is nothing wrong with our child! Don't you dare say that!" my mother yelled back.

"She is a freak! No one can just blast a fairly hefty girl off their feet. Can't you see it, Judy? One of these days she could end up killing one of us! We aren't safe anymore. We need to take her and drop her off at the orphanage, then we can just be rid of her and live our life."

Mother stared at him. She finally spoke, "I will not give my child to strangers. I have loved her since the day she was born. Maybe you are the freak and not her."

My father raised his hand in a motion like he was going to hit my mother. I looked towards the door, and a bolt of lightening hit his car. The car, that I could see clearly from the window in the door, flew up fifty feet or so into the air and dropped back to the ground. The car sat there smoldering, and slowly the fire started to burn out. My father looked up the stairs at me and started to come after me. For the second time that day, I just stared in horror. Again when he was within a foot of me, he flew down the stairs, hit the door, and slid down to the floor.

My mother ran up the stairs and held me. She began to slowly rock back and forth, and said, "I think you need to go, Jim."

My father made some rude gesture with his hand, and called a cab. Within minutes, he was gone.

Now today, here I sit. Even though we don't have a lot of money, mum and I are doing quite well. She's a nurse, and she tries to take as much overtime as she possibly can. We only live on about twenty pounds a week on food, but I don't mind. She has a little money saved up for occasions like this.

Today we were planning on going to the zoo to take our minds off of the day my dad left. I had been so excited about today that I had woken up quite early. I looked out my window and noticed that a small amount of sunlight was starting to creep over the horizon. I heard my mother starting to get up and take her shower. I sat there, continuing to knit. I felt something was going to happen today, and I couldn't put my finger on it. I sometimes got odd feelings like this, but today's was different. I shook it off and finished my potholder. I usually always made potholders because I got bored with a large project within a few weeks. I added it to the growing stack on my desk. I usually gave it to the few friends or family members for Christmas or their birthdays.

I heard my mom get done in the shower and go to the kitchen to get breakfast ready. I got up and went to take my shower and came back to my room to get dressed. After getting dressed, I went to my desk to grab the potholder I just finished, as I wanted to show my mum. I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, and glanced out the window.

There was a man standing there with long white hair and a long white beard. He looked highly out of place with an emerald green suit on. He had half-moon glasses perched on his very crooked nose, and he was looking at a piece of paper in his hand, as if checking something. I shook it off and went to the kitchen.

Mum had put on some eggs and bacon for breakfast. I sniffed in the heavenly scent.

"Mum, I made another potholder," I said, coming up behind her.

"To go with every other one you made," she laughed. She placed some bacon and eggs on my plate and I sat at our very small table. As soon as I was about to take a bite, the buzzer rang. Mum went to the intercom and said, "Yes?"

"Is this the residence of Drea Brotherton?" came an old man's voice.

Mother had an odd look on her face, and replied, "Yes, it is. May I ask who this is?"

"My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I would like to talk to you both about your daughter's education."

"Um…okay. Come on up," she said, pushing the button to let the man in. Within seconds, a knock came at the door, and my mother let

the man in. It was the same man I had seen outside my window.

"Please sit down. Would you like anything?" mum asked.

"Tea would be lovely," said Dumbledore. She started to busy herself with making the tea and the old man turned to me. "How are you doing, Miss Brotherton?"

I was shocked to know that this man knew my name. "I'm fine," I finally said. "I don't mean to be rude, but who are you?"

There was a slight twinkle in the old man's eyes as he laughed. "I'm sorry. I seem to have forgotten to introduce myself. I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts."

"I've never heard of that school before. Where is it and why are you here?"

"Well, I really can't disclose the location, but I am here today to offer you an opportunity. The school where I currently reside is a school for witches and wizards like yourself."

Behind me, mum dropped the teakettle and I just sat there with my mouth opened. "W-what?" I finally stammered.

"You are a witch."

"I can't be."

"Have you ever made anything happen that you couldn't explain?" he asked, the twinkle back in his eyes.

I thought back two years ago. I bit my lip as I knew this man must know.

"I've came here today to tell you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts." Mum returned with the tea, and Dumbledore took it. "Thank you."

"I assume that this is an academy, right?" mum asked.

"It is."

Mum looked down at her hands. "Mr. Dumbledore-"

"Please, call me Albus."

"Albus, I'm sorry, but I can't afford for my daughter to go your school. We barely have enough money to get by," she said, reddening at

the thought of their situation with money.

"That is why I am here. If a family with a witch or wizard in their family cannot afford to go to Hogwarts, we will pay for their schooling. We will set up an account for the child at Gringott's-"

"What's that?" I asked.

"Drea, don't interrupt."

"Sorry," I replied, blushing.

"It's no problem. Gringott's is a wizarding bank. We will set up an account there for you to buy all your books and your uniform from."

I looked at my mother. I wanted more than anything to go to this school. She looked at me and saw it in my eyes that I wanted to go. She turned to the old wizard and asked, "Where do I go to get her supplies?"

I made a squeak of excitement, and hugged my mother. I settled down, and waited for his reply.

"On August first, you will go to a pub called the Leaky Cauldron. It is a few blocks north of King's Cross Station. You should be there about eleven or so in the morning. Ask the bartender, and he will point you in the right direction. You will meet the deputy headmistress, Professor McGonagall, and she will help you. All you need to do is go to Gringott's and tell them your name. They will take you to your vault and there will be money in there for you. You will buy your supplies at this time. Here is a list of the books and equipment you will need." He handed her a list. "Also, the train to go to Hogwarts leaves on September first at eleven A.M. sharp."

I nodded my head, trying to remember everything he had just said.

"Any questions?"

Me and mum both shook our head.

"Good. I would also suggest that when you go to Diagon Alley, you buy yourself an owl. They carry letters and they are very useful in the wizarding world. I think that is all. I can't wait to see you at Hogwarts," he said, standing up.

I stood up and me and mum both shook his hand. He smiled at us and left our flat.


	2. Fights in Diagon Alley

A/N: Here's a nice long chapter for ya'll :) The name for the goblin came from me typing random letter and saying something random out loud :-D Also, I just got done with this chapter like ten minutes ago, so sorry in advance for any errors :)

Fights in Diagon Alley

On August first, I woke up bright and early. I took a shower and went to my rather small wardrobe and picked out one of my best shirts and a pair of jeans. I grabbed my list of school supplies and looked over it. It said I would need a wand, some robes, a cauldron, and a list of books. Most of the books on the list were by a man named Gilderoy Lockhart. I took my list and slipped it into my pants pocket.

Walking out into the hallway, my mom I could smell my mom making toast. When I got to the kitchen, she handed me a piece and said, "We need to get going. We might need some extra time to find this place."

I nodded and ate the toast while she locked the door to the flat. We hailed a cab outside our building and rode to King's Cross. I watched outside as the buildings going by got less shabby, and finally the cab driver pulled next to the curb. My mother handed the man some money, and we stepped out of the car.

"I am absolutely no good at directions," mum said, holding her hand up to her eyes and looking around for some sort of sign directing the way.

"This way," I replied. I felt an odd pulling in my stomach that took me through a couple of alleyways. The closer we got to the small pub, the lighter the pulling was. Mum was staring at me like I had totally lost my mind, and finally I said, "Here we are."

"Where is it?" she asked, looking around.

"Right there," I pointed to the small building with a witch stirring a cauldron on the door.

"I don't see it."

I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door. She made a small yelp, as if something had just appeared before her eyes.

We walked into the pub, and shut our eyes quickly as the pub was very dark compared to the outside. Once our eyes adjusted, we saw that the pub was filled with witches and wizards. All of them were wearing odd clothes. Cloaks to be exact. These people were varying in age from infants to elderly. I even saw a woman smoking a long pipe.

I walked up to the bar and an older wizard (not as old as Dumbledore) with hardly any teeth stood cleaning a glass someone had left on the counter.

"Excuse me, sir? Could you tell me where the meeting is for Hogwarts?" I asked.

"Muggle-born, eh? Go straight through that door back there," he said as he pointed to a door in the back.

"Thank you," I replied. I checked my watch, and we were still a couple of minutes early. I walked to the back and opened the door.

We were now outside and there were a few people there. There was an older witch (at least in her seventies) with a clipboard and a quill who was talking to some of the children already there. When she spotted me and mother, she walked over.

"Name?"

"Drea Brotherton," I replied.

She looked down the list, made a check mark with her quill, and said, "I see you are down for financial aid. I believe there is only one other person down for that." She pointed to a girl with light brown hair standing in the corner. "My name is Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. I also teach Transfiguration and am Head of Gryffindor house. You probably won't know what that is. I suggest once you get your money, you buy a book called _Hogwarts, A History_. It will help you get better acquainted with Hogwarts. Also, I see that you already have your ticket for September first, right?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now to get onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, you will need to walk straight to barrier between platforms nine and ten. Your mother will need to say good-bye to you, however, before you walk through, as non-magical people can't walk through the barrier. After I open the gateway to Diagon Alley, I will accompany you and Miss Christ to Gringott's so you can access your accounts," she said, pointing to the girl in the corner. "Any questions?"

"No, none at all," I replied. I looked over at the other girl, and decided I might as well introduce myself.

I walked up to her, and when I approached, she smiled.

"Hi, I'm Drea Brotherton," I said, putting my hand out.

"I'm Ginger Christ," she replied, shaking my hand. "Are a part of the financial aid program?"

"Yeah. Would you mind if we hung close to you? Me and my mum don't do well with directions," I laughed.

She laughed as well, and replied, "Sure, no problem."

"Attention, everyone!" yelled McGonagall, pulling her wand out. "I am about to open archway to Diagon Alley. Everyone remember to make their way down to Gringott's Bank. You will meet with a goblin to get your money." Everyone broke out into whispers about goblins, and she spoke a bit louder, "Everyone please note which brick you have to tap, as next year when you come to get your supplies, you will need to do the same thing. Any questions?" Everyone shook their head. "Good."

She took her wand and counted three up, and two across. She tapped that brick three times. As if from nowhere, a large archway appeared. Everyone gasped at the sight before them. A large, busy street lay before them. Toward the end was a large white marble building.

"Miss Brotherton, Miss Christ please follow me," said McGonagall.

We both nodded and obeyed. I could have literally stayed in this area forever. There were so many shops of varying subjects. There was an apothecary on one side, while a store that stocked only things for something called "Quidditch." There was a store that had nothing but owls, and near that was a store that had a range of animals from cats to what looked like a tortoise with a jeweled shell. We finally got to the large marble building and noticed a small creature. Ginger let out a small gasp next to me, while I just stood there with my mouth open. Mum tried to pull me back, as if the creatures were going to attack.

"They are just goblins," McGonagall reassured. "They don't attack or harm you unless you steal something from them."

We walked tentatively past them, and into the large building. There were about a hundred or more stations with goblins attending to people.

"Over here," McGonagall said, leading us over to the first vacant goblin.

"Yes?" said the goblin, putting his quill down.

"Drea Brotherton and Ginger Christ need to make a withdrawal from their new accounts. Dumbledore said that you would have the keys."

"Hold on," the goblin replied, hopping off his chair and walking the length of the bank to talk to another goblin. Evidently he was the manager. The manager handed our goblin a set of keys, and he came waddling back to us.

"Here we are. I'll ask you to go through this door." He pointed. "You will meet a goblin named Gofimmen and he will take you to your vaults," he finished, handing us our keys.

"I need to attend to the other students. Do you think you can handle this by yourself?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes," said Ginger and I in unison.

"Good. Have a good day." Then she walked briskly out of the bank.

We walked into the dark room lit by torches. We handed our keys to Gofimmen and he hopped into one of the larger carts that were there. There seemed to be a few different tracks that could be taken. Mother and I sat in the back, while Ginger and her mum sat in front of us.

"Hang on," mumbled the goblin.

Suddenly the cart jerked forward and began going at an unbelievably high speed. Mother closed her eyes and started to look green. Ginger, who was in front of me, threw her arms in the air and screamed like she was on a roller coaster. We kept making twists and turns, and even if I had tried to remember it, I wouldn't be able to. Then the cart jerked to a halt at vaults 301 and 303.

Gofimmen pulled his lamp out and said, "Miss Brotherton, you are number 303. Miss Christ, you are 301."

He opened both our vaults, and in both of them was the same amount of money. They weren't pounds though, they were coins. There was a hefty amount of gold, silver, and bronze coins.

"Here are some complimentary pouches for you." The goblin handed us each a leather pouch with a large "G" embroidered in it.

"Sir," I asked, "what are all these coins?"

He walked into my vault and got one of each of the coins. "These," he held up the bronze coin, "are Knuts, they are worth the least amount of money. The silver ones are Sickles. And lastly, the gold ones are Galleons. They are worth the largest amount of money."

"Like the Olympics, right?" Ginger said from next to me.

The goblin cocked his head to one side and asked, "What?"

"Never mind," Ginger replied, blushing slightly.

"Now, you can exchange the smaller coins for the larger coins. For example, there are seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle. When we get back to the lobby, I'll give you a pamphlet that will tell you this, along with Muggle money conversions. Good?"

"Yes, sir," I said. This was a lot to take in in just one day.

"Let's get going then." He got back into the cart and we rode back to up to the room where we first got on the cart. We shielded our eyes as we entered the bright lobby. The goblin gave us the pamphlets and we were on our way. My mother and Ginger's mum said they would meet us in the pub in a couple of hours so we could get to know each other. In under an hour, we had our robes, our potion ingredients, and everything else besides our wands, books and an animal.

"Where do you think we should go next?" asked Ginger, struggling a bit underneath her load of supplies.

"Let's go get our animals, and then our wands. By then it should be about time to see Gilderoy Lockhart, whoever he is," I replied, pointing to the sign above the bookstore called Flourish & Blotts.

We passed by a store called Eeylop's Owl Emporium, and I saw a beautiful barn owl. It had a pure white face, and the only word to describe it was gorgeous.

"I'd like an owl, but I also want a cat," Ginger said, putting her things down. She pulled her list from her pocket and looked it over. "It says either an owl or a cat or a toad."

"I'll let you borrow my owl. You can go and get your cat."

"Thanks," she smiled.

We walked into the small shop and there was wall to wall owls that were in cages. I went to the counter and found an older hunchbacked man feeding an owl with a dropper.

"He's been sick for the past few days," he mumbled. "Nothing that a few drops of Pepperup Potion won't help." Suddenly, the owl started smoking. At first I thought he was going to explode, and when the owner noticed my expression he said, "It won't hurt him. He'll just be smoking for the next few hours."

I nodded like I understood, but in reality, I didn't.

"Anyways, how can I help you young ladies today?" he asked.

"I'd like to buy that owl in the window over there," I replied, pointing over to where the barn owl was.

"Ahh…I was wondering when she was going to go. Just got her in yesterday," he said, walking over to the owls cage. "I can't believe no one came to buy her earlier. Maybe she was meant for you," he winked. "Okay, owl number five one four," he muttered, pulling out a large book that looked like a ledger of some sort. He pulled a quill and inkwell out and ran his finger down the old parchment until he found what he was looking for. Dipping his quill into the ink, he wrote, "Sold."

"How much for her?" I asked, pulling my leather pouch out.

"Seven Galleons."

I counted out seven of the large gold coins and handed them to the man.

"Have a nice day," he said, bowing slightly.

We walked out into the bright sunlight, and I looked at my watch. "We still have about twenty minutes before the Gilderoy Lockhart show. That should be enough time to get your cat and our wands."

We got to the Magical Menagerie, and Ginger saw the cat she wanted. It was a small gray kitten, and was absolutely cute.

"What are you going to name it?" I asked.

"I'm leaning toward Mudge," she replied. "I've always had a fondness with 'M' names."

I realized I had not named my owl yet. "I still need a name for my owl. I'm thinking Midge," I said, chuckling.

"That settles it then! Midge and Mudge," she laughed. We walked to the wand store, Ollivander's, laughing at our name choices.

We walked into the shop, and it was one of the darkest shops that we had been in. The room was large, and it was stacked with wands, floor to ceiling. We sat our things on the ground and started looking at the wands. While we were looking at the wands, we were startled to see an old man behind the counter. His eyes were snow white, and I tried hard not to stare directly at them.

"Ahh…," he said. "Need a new wand, do you? Well, get on over here." He motioned us over. "Which one is you're wand hand?"

"Err… I write with my right hand," I replied.

He pulled my arm out and started to measure with a silver tape measurer. It seemed like he measured every inch of my body. He tapped his chin and went in the back to grab a wand. He came back out with a thin box and said, "Here try this. Eight inches, oak with a dragon heartstring core."

I held the wand and made a flicking motion. Nothing happened.

"Hmm…interesting. Okay, let's try this. Ivy with unicorn hair. Nine and a half inches."

A slight spark came out the end, but he said, "We're on the right track. How about this? Birch with unicorn hair. Ten inches."

As soon as I touched the wand, it heated my hand. I flicked it and flowers shot out of the tip.

He clapped. "Very good. I'll wrap that up for you," He said, taking the box out of my hands.

Ginger was next, and her wand search ended fairly quickly. On her second try, she ended up with an elder wand made with phoenix feather, eight and a half inches. After paying the older wizard, we headed to Flourish and Blotts.

People were standing outside to see this Gilderoy Lockhart person. We shoved our way inside with a lot of difficulty and grabbed what books we needed for the term, which were conveniently located by the door. We stood near the back, standing on a box that was filled with books.

As we situated ourselves on the box, we saw him. He had hair the color of gold and eyes of sapphires. He wore robes of blue with a matching hat. He had a pearly white smile that reminded you of some celebrities that they showed in the supermarket tabloids.

"Wow," Ginger breathed. I looked at the flashy wizard with my eyebrow arched. Yeah, he was a good looking man, but how could someone who looked like he never got a speck of dirt on him really have saved so many lives? As soon as the real Gilderoy sat down at the table where he would be signing books, pictures, and other things, I realized that the pictures that surrounded the table were of him and they were _moving_. I let out a small gasp as the pictures started winking at the real Gilderoy, and shortly after that, I heard Ginger next to me make a sound of awe.

We only got a glimpse of Gilderoy, as there was a man who looked like a reporter taking pictures. The camera kept spouting out purple wisps of smoke, and completely hiding Gilderoy's face. When the smoke subsided, he jumped up, almost tipping his chair over, and yelled, "It _can't_ be Harry Potter?"

"Who's Harry Potter?" I asked Ginger.

"Beats me."

"You don't know who Harry Potter is?" asked a frail witch in front of us. We both shook our head. "He made You-Know-Who disappear. He was only a year old, and You-Know-Who killed his parents. Tragic thing, really."

I started to feel sorry for the boy. This Harry Potter was famous and had to have his parents' death shoved under his nose all the time. I glanced back up, and noticed Gilderoy Lockhart pulling Harry close to him like they were old buddies. I had no idea who You-Know-Who was, but he didn't sound like a pleasant person.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said over the crowd. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time!

"When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography --which I shall be happy to present him now, free of charge--" Everyone clapped except me. This guy seemed like a total fraud. Lockhart, not Harry. "He had no idea that he would be getting much, much more than my book, _Magical Me_. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

Ginger, who clapped unenthusiastically, whispered, "He sure is full of himself isn't he?" Apparently she had changed her mind of the handsome man.

We continued to watch as Harry Potter received a whole load of books from Gilderoy Lockhart. The boy staggered to a family (or at least I suspect they were all related since they all had bright red hair) and dropped his books into the youngest girl's cauldron. After the photo opportunity, Gilderoy began to sign the fans' books. But my attention was concentrated on Harry Potter, who had just been approached by a boy with white-blond hair.

"Potter, you've got yourself a _girlfriend_!" he said.

There was more banter between him and Harry, but I couldn't hear it all, as all of the witches who were waiting for their books to be signed by Lockhart (Professor Lockhart I should be calling him now). I heard the distinct thud of something hitting metal, and I looked up to see the red haired boy standing next to Harry lunge for the blond boy. Then a man, who had to be the father of the red haired boy, came up to say something to them.

"Well, well, well---Arthur Weasley," came a drawling voice from somewhere nearby. The man who said it had to be the father of the blond boy, as he looked exactly like the boy only he had longer hair.

"Lucius," Mr. Weasley said coolly.

There seemed to be more noise and it droned out the rest of the conversation. There must have been an argument between the two as Mr. Weasley's face started to get redder and redder. Suddenly, he threw himself at the taller wizard, and in doing so knocked a display of heavy books onto Ginger and I. Before we could regain our balance, a large man (who might have been a giant) knocked us of our box and sent us tumbling to the floor.

Groaning, we hoisted ourselves up and saw that the large man had picked up both men in each of his large hands. Mr. Weasley's lip was seeping blood and Mr. Malfoy's eye was blackening at a fast rate.

"Let's pay and get out of here," Ginger whispered in my ear. I nodded and we slowly made our way over to the counter where a witch stood in shock. She came to and we paid for our books. We left the store quickly and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron.

"You want to tell our mums' about this?" Ginger asked, walking slowly from the load of supplies that she had.

"Are you mad?" I replied. "They won't let us go to Hogwarts if they find out there had been a fight right in front of us." I slowed down a bit and saw a tall building that claimed to be a post office. "You think we can go in and get our stuff shipped to our houses?"

"Worth a shot," Ginger replied. "My arms are about to fall off as it is."

We walked into the post office, and once inside, we were shocked. There was every size owl imaginable, from small Scops owls to large screech owls.

There was an older witch behind the counter helping a man tie a large box to a handsome tawny owl.

"Your friend should get this box within the next day or so. That will be," the witch looked at a little piece of parchment taped to the counter, "ten Sickles."

The man handed her the money and turned to leave. He tipped his hat at us on the way out. Walking up to the counter, our mouths were still hanging open at the sight of all the owls.

"Name?" the witch asked.

"Drea Brotherton."

"Ginger Christ."

"Local or long distance delivery?"

"Local," I replied.

"I live just outside the city," Ginger replied.

The witch nodded and took out a large leather bound book and ran her finger down a list of names. It looked oddly like a phone book, only with addresses.

"Drea Brotherton of 1389 Acris Street?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Okay. Do you have any food or animals being shipped, and if so, what are they?" she asked, slamming the book.

"No, I don't. I can carry my owl home. I just need to ship my school things home."

"Give them here." She took them from me and got a few owls and tied my new school things to their legs. After the owls took flight, I was left with Midge and my new wand. Ginger did the same thing, and she was left with Mudge and her wand.

The witch checked the parchment taped to the counter and said, "That will be fifteen sickles for you Miss Brotherton, and nineteen sickles for you Miss Christ."

We paid for our shipments, and our arms started to get feeling in them. We went back to the pub to see our mothers drinking each a glass of wine and looking fairly red in the face.

"Luckily we took a taxi to get here," laughed Ginger.


	3. Planes, Trains, and Flying Automobiles

A/N: First off, the name of this came from the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles (One of my favorite movies. You really need to see it :) ) Also this is the introduction of one of the final main characters, Megan. She is one of my awesome Hufflepuff buddies :-D It might be a bit before I update any of my stories as I am finishing up moving my stuff. Anyways, hope you enjoy :)

Planes, Trains, and Flying Automobiles

The rest of the month was spent reading everything I could about Hogwarts. Ginger came over everyday her mother worked, as my house was right on the way to her mum's job. Everyday she came over we read more and more about our school. Ginger was very impressed with all the magic that protected the school and their massive library (which said in Hogwarts: A History that the books automatically updated themselves every year. If one was to read a book about something that happened five hundred years ago and read the exact same passage a year later it would say five hundred and one). We also read a lot about the four houses at Hogwarts (Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin).

We didn't spend the whole time, however, reading about Hogwarts and trying simple spells from _Standard Book of Spells Grade One_. We also got to know each other quite well. Ginger's mother was also a single mum. Her father had worked in the Royal Air Force testing planes and fixing them if they needed to be fixed. One day when she was seven, her father went to test a new plane and died shortly after takeoff when the plane exploded. Ginger's mother was devastated and the British military wasn't helping them much with expenses. They lived in a small townhouse outside the city while her mother was working at a secretary at a drill company called Grunning's. Her boss was a terrible man who used to yell and shout at her every moment he could.

Finally, September first came. I sat in my room making sure I had all my robes, my cauldron, my books, and everything else I would need. I had everything packed the night before, but I kept checking and rechecking. Midge was safely in her cage with a fresh batch of food, and had her head under wing sleeping. I took one look at my room and sighed. I wouldn't be back here for another few months for Christmas.

As I was locking up my trunk, mum called from down the hallway, "Drea! Ginger and Linda are here to pick us up! Hurry up now! Don't want to be late!"

I grabbed the end of my trunk and Midge's cage and took one last look at my room. I shut the light off and walked to the door. Ginger and her mother were standing there waiting for us. Mum and I decided to go with them, as Mrs. Christ had a van and it would hold our trunks and our animals. After everything was loaded, we set off for Kings Cross Station. The whole trip was spent talking about what we would do for Christmas when we were going to be on break. We ended up deciding that since we didn't have any family to speak of, to spend Christmas together at our flat.

We finally got to the station and Mrs. Christ went to get trolleys while my mum helped get our trunks and animals out. Piling our things onto the carts, we set off for Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. We went to the barrier between nine and ten and saw a boy with curly hair kissing his mum and dad good-bye. With a final wave, he ran toward the barrier and in an instant, he was gone. Ginger and I shook our head, not expecting that to happen (even though Professor McGonagall had told us what to do).

"Well, that was odd," said Mrs. Christ, laughing a bit.

We kissed and hugged our mothers good-bye and looked at the barrier. It looked completely solid, and I had a feeling of apprehension. The barrier was wide enough that two people could go through at the same time.

"You want to go first or should I?" I asked Ginger.

"Let's do it at the same time," she said, the same apprehension in her voice.

"One."

"Two."

"THREE!" We broke out into a run and couldn't stop. The barrier seemed to disappear and looking back, we saw nothing but a brick wall. We turned around to see a bright red steam engine. It looked like it was quite old, but it was very well taken care of. I looked at my watch and noticed we had a little over fifteen minutes before the train was set to leave. There were a few students bustling around the platform, say hello to old friends from the previous year. We went down the train looking for an empty compartment and found one that had nobody in it. We heaved our trunks inside and placed our pets next to the trunks.

"I still can't believe we're going to Hogwarts," Ginger said, flopping down in the seat across from me. "Once the train gets going, want me to get my Exploding Snap cards out of my trunk?" Ginger had bought this wizarding card game when they were in Diagon Alley. It is very much like the card game "Old Maid" in that each player had a certain number of cards and had to pick a card from the other players' hand. The only difference was that you didn't know which card was going to be the exploding one.

"Sure, that sounds fine," I replied, looking out the window at the people saying good-bye to their parents.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud right outside our compartment and a girl cried, "Bloody hell!" Our door slid open and a tall girl with black hair stood there. She was wearing jeans and a zip up sweatshirt. She pushed the hair out of her eyes, and said, "My stupid trunk fell on my foot! Are these seats saved for anyone?"

"No. Go ahead and sit," I replied.

"My name is Megan Shafur. I'm a first year. What about you guys?" We both nodded as she put her trunk up into the rack. She continued, "So which houses do you guys think you will be in?"

"We've only read a bit about them, but either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff," Ginger replied.

"I think I'll do good in Hufflepuff," I said.

"My parents were in Hufflepuff, as were my dad's family. I'm a half-blood, mum was a Muggle-born. What about you?"

"We're both Muggle-born. We met in Diagon Alley a few weeks back," I replied. "So you grew up with magical parents?"

"Yeah. They both work at the Ministry. They work in the Magical Games Department. Both of them are huge Quidditch-"

"Quid-what?" Ginger asked.

"Quidditch. It's a game played on broomsticks." She went on to describe this game and it sounded like soccer on broomsticks. "It's too bad we can't try out for the House team until at least second year. I have been playing it since I was old enough to ride a broomstick."

We chatted for a bit when our door slid open and a dirty blond haired girl with larger than normal eyes asked, "Is this seat taken?" She had a very airy voice.

"Nope, not at all."

The girl put her trunk up on the rack and sat down. She took a magazine out of her robes called _The Quibbler _and began to read. Ginger, Megan, and I all looked at each other with odd looks on our faces and continued talking. Before long, the train started to move and I could hear a girl yelling up ahead. She was still on the platform with her trunk. I got up quickly, and as my door passed her, I yelled, "Get in quick!"

The girl threw her trunk in and hopped into the moving train. She had faded and worn clothes on and had bright red hair.

"Thanks. I thought I wasn't going to make it." She looked around the compartment and saw the blond haired girl. "Hey, Luna."

Luna looked over her magazine, nodded, and went back to reading.

"I'm Ginny Weasley," the girl said, stowing her trunk away.

We all introduced ourselves and once the train got going, Ginger got her Exploding Snap cards out. Me, Megan, and her played for a bit and Ginny got a journal out of her trunk and began to write in it.

"Who are you writing about?" Megan asked, holding her cards away from her face as one of them started to smoke.

"No one," Ginny replied, blushing slightly.

"Oh, that means it's a boy," I said, laughing a bit.

She blushed even more and she looked like she had a tomato for a head. "It's just one of my brother's friends."

"Would I know him?" Megan asked, shuffling the cards.

Ginny nodded, closing the diary.

"Do tell!" Ginger laughed.

"Harry Potter," mumbled Ginny.

"_The_ Harry Potter?" Megan asked, the shock evident on her face. Ginny nodded.

We all had a good laugh and later in the afternoon, an elderly witch came with a trolley full of sweets. We got up to look at what she had, and I had never heard of anything on the cart.

"What is all this?" I asked.

"That's right! You've never had any of this before," Megan said, slapping her head. "We'll take three of everything."

"Oh, no you don't have to," Ginger said.

"I want to," Megan replied, counting out ten Sickles.

We ate the sweets, which included Cauldron Cakes, Pumpkin Pasties, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans (these actually had awful tasting

beans), and other things. Once we were full, we were very quiet and tired. I looked out the window and saw something I didn't expect.

There was a flying car.

As soon as I shook my head, it was gone again. I kept staring at the sky and I saw it again.

"What in the hell?" I said.

"What is it?" Ginger asked, looking out the window.

"Please tell me you see a car in the sky," I said, pointing to where I saw it. Sure enough, the car dipped under the clouds for a second and went back up.

We looked back and saw Ginny turn white. She got up and looked out the window. The car yet again dove under the clouds and back

up again.

"Oh, no!" she cried and ran out of the compartment.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Megan. We all shrugged. Luna was still reading her _Quibbler_.

A moment later, Ginny came into the compartment with two twin boys. Ginger and I stood on the seat so they could see the car.

"Is that…" started one twin.

"I think it is," finished the other.

"Wicked," they said together.

"This is not good you two! They can barely fly the thing!" Ginny cried.

"I can't wait to talk to them," said one twin.

"George! This is not funny! I'm going to get Percy." She left the compartment again.

"I think it's totally funny, Fred," said George.

"She doesn't know what she's talking about. Let's go tell Lee. Ladies," they said, bowing out the door.

As soon as the twins left, Ginny came through the door with a red haired boy with horn rim glasses.

"Ginny, I really don't have time for this. I have Prefect duties," said the boy.

"Percy, just look!" Ginny pointed. Percy rolled his eyes and looked out the window, unenthused.

"I'm telling you. There is nothing…" he stopped in mid-sentence. The car dove underneath the clouds again. Percy turned white, much

like Ginny did. "How dare they take the car! Don't they realize how this makes me look? I'm writing mum this instance," he said, stomping out of the compartment.

As it got darker out, we started to lose sight of the car. We continued to play Exploding Snap with one eye on the window. A voice came on overhead saying, "We'll be arriving at Hogsmeade Station in ten minutes. Please leave your luggage and pets on the train. They will be taken to the school."

We all changed into our school robes and when we finished, the train started to slow down. It came to a halt and all around us, we heard compartment doors opening.

Getting out, we heard a booming voice yell out, "Firs' years over here!" The voice belonged to the giant we saw in Diagon Alley.

We walked up to the man, but it seemed like he was looking for someone else. He glanced down and noticed Ginny standing next to me and said, "Are yeh a Weasley?" She nodded. "Where's yeh brother?"

"Percy?"

"Ron."

Ginny turned red again and replied, "He took my father's car and flew it to Hogwarts."

Hagrid stood there speechless.

"Please don't tell anyone," Ginny said. "My father's not supposed to have it."

"We better get goin' up to the castle. Come on firs' years!" he yelled over the heads of students, ignoring Ginny.


	4. The Sorting Hat

A/N: First off, I'm horrible at rhyming, therefore the pretty awful Sorting Hat song. Second of all, yes the Justin mentioned is Justin Finch-Fletchly. I know some people think that Justin is ugly, but it has never said it in the books. It just says he has curly hair and that's it. That's it as far as my little rant :) Enjoy!

P.S. Megan, I have no idea who I'm pairing you up with yet, but he will be at least a year ahead of us because of later stories :-D That's all I'm saying.

The Sorting Hat

The large man took us down a path near a forest. You couldn't see much past the first row trees.

"That must be the Forbidden Forest," Ginger whispered in my ear.

"We're almos' to the shore. You'll get your firs' view of Hogwarts here in a sec," the giant said.

"The shore?" asked Megan. Ginger and I both shrugged. We turned the corner and that's when we saw the castle.

I was speechless. Many of the students around me made an indescribable sound. You could tell the castle was very old, but yet it was in good condition. Many turrets and towers protruded from odd places around the building, but it still looked magnificent and grand.

"Isn' it beautiful?" the large man asked no one in particular. "Now, no more than four to a boat!"

I took my attention from the castle just long enough to see there were quite a few small boats lining the shore. I got into a boat with Ginger, Megan, and Luna.

"Go!" said the giant. Suddenly, the boats moved without paddles or even a motor. Many people around me squeaked as they made their way across the lake. Luna, who was next to Megan, looked over the side of the boat. She dipped her hand in the cool water, and idly began to play with it. Megan looked at her as though she was mental.

"Watch your heads!" said the man, pointing to a cave in which ivy hung down. Everyone ducked and the ivy brushed the top of our heads. When we raised them, we were in a small harbor-like area. The small boats rowed themselves to the dock and stopped. We all got out and waited for the man to lead the way. He lead us up a set of stone steps that lead to large wooden French doors. He knocked three times on the door and Professor McGonagall opened the door.

"Here are the firs' years," the giant said, pointing to the group behind him.

"Thank you, Hagrid," she replied. She then quieted her voice, "Have you seen Mr. Potter?"

"No. I didn' see them on my way here with the firs' years."

"I have Professor Snape looking over the grounds in case they show up. Thank you, Hagrid."

Hagrid nodded and McGonagall pulled the door open wider. We stepped inside and were now entranced at how large the entrance hall was. There was noise coming from a large room in front of us, but McGonagall held a door open to a small room in which everyone could barely fit into.

Once everyone was inside the small room, Professor McGonagall squeezed in. She straightened her hat and said, "Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term feast will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. Your houses will be like your family while you are here at Hogwarts. You will have classes with each other, sleep in the same dormitory, and spend free time or study time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Each house has it's own history and each house has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While at Hogwarts, your success will earn you house points while breaking rules will lose you house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I will be back in a few minutes to collect you. Please wait here quietly," she finished, walking out the door.

"Do you know how we are sorted?" I asked Megan.

"My cousin wouldn't tell me, told me that it would be a surprise. She assured me though that is isn't painful."

"Well that's a good thing."

After a few moments of waiting, a few people gasped. Behind me, there were a few ghosts who had just floated through the wall. There was a man with a ruffled collar and a hat with a rather large feather in it, a lady who wore a large lace dress, and a large man who looked like a friar.

The large man looked down and gasped. "Look, Nick. It's new students!"

"Hello," Nick with the ruffled collar said. "I am the Gryffindor ghost."

"I am the Ravenclaw ghost, the Grey Lady," said the woman in a very misty voice.

"And I am the Hufflepuff ghost, the Fat Friar," said the jolly looking man.

"The Fat Friar?" I asked. "Isn't that a bit…well, insulting?"

"You would think, but I've gotten quite used to it over the years. If you are in my house, you can call me Fraley. I believe you would

make a good Hufflepuff. Then again that's up to the Sorting," he smiled, patting me gently on the shoulder with his ghostly hand. When his hand touched my shoulder it felt like I had jumped into a lake of ice water.

"The Sorting Ceremony's about to start," said a voice from the door. We all turned to see Professor McGonagall standing in the doorway. The Fat Friar gave me a smile and floated through the wall. "Now," McGonagall continued, "form a line and follow me."

I swallowed and got in line behind Megan. Ginger, who was behind me, whispered, "Good luck."

"You too."

We walked back out into the entrance hall and to the double doors that I had seen earlier. McGonagall pushed the doors open and

about a thousand faces looked at us. I felt red rising in my cheeks. I hated being in front of people. I tried to keep my head down a bit and ignore them, but I didn't do that for long as Ginger whispered in my ear, "Look up!"

I looked up and almost stopped the line. There were candles floating in the air, but above them was a large ceiling that looked like the outside. You could see every star, cloud, and even the moon. I tried to look and walk, but failed and ended up bringing my attention back to the hall. There were four long tables, each for a house I supposed. On each table there were golden plates and goblets that were shining. At the end of the tables, closer to the front, were empty spots where I supposed we would go to be with our new house. I decided that staring straight ahead would be safe, and when I did, I saw all the adults that I assumed were our new professors. In the middle, Professor Dumbledore sat in a large chair that looked sort of like a throne. He smiled down on the new students with a grandfatherly smile. We lined up in front of the school with our backs to the teachers and McGonagall brought out a stool. Upon it, she laid a frayed and old looking wizard's hat. She stepped back, as if the hat was going to explode at any moment and suddenly, a rip formed in the brim of the hat and it started to _sing_:

_Welcome to Hogwarts School_

_For another year_

_You won't find a hat as cool_

_As me, so don't you fear!_

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where the brave and strong reside._

_Or maybe in Slytherin,_

_Where the cunning and sly go to hide._

_Or in Hufflepuff,_

_Where the loyal and true go to confide._

_Or lastly in Ravenclaw,_

_Where the clever and intelligent go to be tried._

_Now try me on and I will tell_

_Which house you will be in_

_It will be painless and if _

_I am wrong, I'll throw myself into a bin!_

After the final word, everyone in the hall cheered. After the clapping and cheering died down, McGonagall stepped forward with a piece of parchment.

"Ackers, Jennifer!"

A small girl with reddish blond hair stepped forward. She was trembling from head to toe. She nervously sat down and put the hat on.

"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat. The girl took the hat off and ran to the table on the left that was clapping loudly.

"Anderson, Tyler!"

A hefty boy stepped forward and put the hat on.

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Boddington, Dana!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

This time the house on the far left stood up to clap loudly.

"Brotherton, Drea!"

I stepped forward. I was very aware of my feet. They felt ten times bigger than normal. I picked the hat up, sat down, and placed it on my head. The hat fell over my eyes, and I was left staring into the hat.

"Ahh…lets see where I should put you," came a voice in my ear.

"Who is that?" I asked, thinking I was starting to hear voices.

"I am the Sorting Hat. I'm trying to figure out which house to place you in."

"Well, I think I'm fit for Hufflepuff."

"Yes, I believe you are right. You are a powerful witch, but sort of lazy when it comes to using your powers."

"Gee, thanks," I thought sarcastically.

"I see you are very loyal to your friends also. Very good Hufflepuff qualities indeed. That is why I am placing you in…HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table on the right burst out clapping and I took the hat off and sat down next to the curly haired boy I saw on the platform.

"Hi, welcome to Hufflepuff," he smiled.

"Thanks," I replied.

"Christ, Ginger!"

I held my hands under the table and had my fingers crossed. The hat took a long time with her before shouting, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

She took the hat off, and ran toward our table. She sat across from me smiling.

"What took so long?" I asked.

"Oh," she said breathlessly, "he just said it was difficult to place me." She then turned her attention to the front where, "Handstrom, Victor," was being sorted. He became the first Slytherin.

"Lovegood, Luna!"

The blond haired girl from the train came up and sat down on the stool. She perched the hat on her head, crossed her legs, and rested her chin on her hand, as if this was an everyday occurrence for her. The hat, after a moment, shouted, "RAVENCLAW!"

Luna took the hat off, placed it on the stool and walked to the Ravenclaw table. She took her time getting there.

"Malcolms, Marvin," became a Gryffindor, as did "Newton, Margene." Finally, Megan came up to the hat. I sat with my fingers crossed

under the table. As soon as the hat touched Megan's head, it called out "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Ginger and I stood up with the rest of the table and clapped loudly. Megan came and sat down next to me.

"That was quick," I said.

"Well, my whole family's been in Hufflepuff, so I knew I'd end up there," she smiled.

The Sorting went on, and there were only two people left. Ginny and a tall black haired boy.

"Weasley, Ginny!"

Ginny stepped forward, her head held high. She placed the hat on her head and it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table clapped loudly, but her red-haired brothers clapped the loudest.

Finally, "Xanderson, Xavier" was sorted into Ravenclaw.

Then Dumbledore stood up. Everyone was quiet, waiting for what he was about to say.

"Welcome to Hogwarts! I was going to make some announcements, but I've heard that there is to be a magnificent feast tonight. I have been smelling it all day long and wish to dig in. Enjoy!"

Suddenly, as if from no where, food appeared on the table in front of us. I sat there for a moment in shock looking at the food. Everyone around us was digging into the food, and I thought I might as well do the same. After filling my plate with some roast chicken, I glanced up at the table and I saw McGonagall talking to Dumbledore. Dumbledore nodded his head and got up, as did McGonagall. They left the hall through a door near the teachers' table.

"Wonder where they are going," I said.

Ginger shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Green beans?" asked the curly haired boy next to me.

"Yes, thanks," I replied, taking the bowl from him.

"I'm Justin," he said, smiling at me.

"I'm Drea."

"Nice to meet you," he said, starting to eat his food.

Ginger started to laugh, but quickly turned it into a cough. I glared at her and she plastered a look of innocence on her face. I rolled my eyes and started to eat.

After the main course was done, the plates were spotless again. But not for long. Soon the tables were filled with trifle, ice creams, spotted dick, and other sweet desserts. After filling ourselves to the brim, Dumbledore stood up. I hadn't even noticed him come back.

"I would like to make a few announcements before I send you off to bed. For those who wish to see a list of banned items, you may go to Mr. Filch's office, located in the dungeons. There have been some new additions to the list for those who pay close attention to the list." He smiled. "As always, the Forbidden Forest is, well, forbidden. As many of our other students can attest to." At this, the red haired twins threw their arms in the air. A few who noticed them laughed. "Now, I believe it's time for bed. Good night."

"Hufflepuff first years this way!" said an older student.

We got up and followed him. I could barely walk I was so stuffed. We followed him through to the entrance hall and he took us down a flight of stairs. We walked down the corridor at the bottom, past a large picture of a bowl of fruit. Finally, he stopped in front of a tapestry of a wizard who was reading a book.

"Password?" His voice was squeaky.

"You will need a password to get into the common room. It will be changed sometimes, and if it will be changed, there will be a notice in the common room bulletin board. Now, the password is right now is Bubotuber," said the boy. The wizard on the tapestry nodded and the tapestry slid back. There was an opening and a set of stairs going down. We walked down the stairs, which was lit by torches on the wall. We got to the bottom to be faced with a large common room. The furniture was all black with yellow tassles hanging off the bottom. The walls were a mixture of black and yellow and resembled a bumblebee. There was a fire in the fireplace and a portrait of a woman above it. Under the picture, the plaque said it was Helga Hufflepuff, founder of Hufflepuff house.

"Now, girls dormitories are up these stairs." He pointed to the right set of stairs. "Boys, yours is over here." He pointed to the left. "Your belongings are already there. If you have an owl, it will be in the owlery. If you have a cat or other animal, it will be in your room. Now, I suggest you all go to bed."

He walked up the staircase and out of sight.

A voice from behind me made me jump.

"Good night," said Justin, smiling a bit.

"Good night," I replied, following Ginger and Megan, who were laughing. "Shut up."

We went up to our room which was at the very top. We opened the door to see two other girls getting into bed. The beds, which were in a circle, were draped with yellow hangings. The bedspreads were of black velvet and at the ends of the beds there were our trunks. Mudge had found her way onto Ginger's pillow and Megan also had a cat, who was at the bottom of the bed.

"This is Vivian," she said, changing into her pajamas. "She's a bit full of herself, but other than that she's nice."

I laughed a bit, as I changed into a t-shirt and pajama pants. I laid down on my bed and the second my head hit the pillow, I was out.


	5. First Day of Class

A/N: Sorry for the long time between updating! Anyways, when I describe the Charms classroom in this chapter, I'm describing it from the films. I also would like to dedicate this chapter to Megan, who is part of this story :) and also to my faithful reader Shaggy37. Thanks for reading!

First Day of Classes

I woke up the next day to the sound of another girl's alarm clock. Turning over, I saw Ginger lying in bed with Mudge sitting on her face, the cat's backside resting on her nose. How she could breathe was beyond me. I got up to see Megan already getting dressed.

"Hurry up, we best get down to breakfast," she said, pulling yellow and black stockings on.

I yawned and pulled my clothes on. Ginger, after waking up with a disgusted squeak, got up as well and put her clothes on. We walked down to the common room, which was filled with older students.

"Let's go up to breakfast. Then we'll get a good seat," I suggested, climbing the stairs to the tapestry.

When we got to the Great Hall, it was still as magnificent as the night before, even though the sky outside was a dull and drab gray.

Sitting down, Ginger grabbed the carafe containing coffee and pulled it toward her. She was definitely not a morning person. Spooning some fruit salad onto my plate, I noticed more and more people were coming in.

Megan, who was next to me, said, "I believe the owls should be coming in at any moment. At least that's what my cousin told me." She looked up at the ceiling, waiting for the owls to rush in. As if on cue, they came through and flew high above us. I looked for Midge and spotted her, carrying a small parcel. She dropped it in front of my plate and I noticed the writing on it to be my mum's.

Ripping open the box, a piece of paper fell out. It read:

**Hope you have a great day at school. Midge came to the house and I thought I would send a present. Hope you enjoy. **

**Mum**

I looked inside to find a butterfly charm bracelet. I had always liked butterflies since I was a little girl and I absolutely loved it. The bracelet itself was silver and where it clasped at was a butterfly that looked realistic. The only difference was that it was smaller. I clasped it on and admired it.

"Wow, what a beautiful bracelet!" Ginger exclaimed, grabbing my wrist from across the table.

I smiled and glanced up to see a handsome older student. He walked past us and then turned around. He looked at Ginger curiously and sat down. Megan sat with her mouth slightly opened, staring at the boy. I reached over to lift her jaw and she blushed furiously.

"Is your last name Christ?" he asked Ginger.

"Y-yeah, it is. How did you know?"

"I thought so. I saw you at the Sorting last night and thought you looked awfully familiar. My mum's mum was a Christ. I knew you had to be one because you have the eyes. Anyways, I'm Cedric Diggory, pleasure to meet you," he said, sticking out his hand. Ginger accepted it and shook it. "Well, I best be getting to my friends. If you ever need anything just ask," he finished.

He walked away and Megan's jaw dropped again. "All I have to say is one word," she said. "Yum."

Ginger and I giggled. After finishing breakfast, a plump witch came down from the staff table. She had a patched hat and gray hair.

"Name?" she asked. Her voice was very pleasant.

"Drea Brotherton."

She flipped through pieces of parchment and handed me the schedule. "There you go," she smiled. She handed Ginger and Megan their schedules as well.

"Fairly easy day today," Ginger remarked. "Double History of Magic, then a break. After that we have lunch. Then Charms in the afternoon. And look!

We have Fridays off. That will be a relief. A three day weekend."

I glanced at my watch. "We better get going. Class is going to start soon and we have no idea where the History of Magic classroom is."

"It's on the first floor," a girl said. She had blond hair and a pink face.

"Thanks, err…" I said.

"Hannah, Hannah Abbot. I'm a second year. And you are?"

"Drea Brotherton."

"Ginger Christ."

"Megan Shafur."

"Nice to meet you. Well, you better go and get your things. The first bell will be ringing soon."

We got up and walked out of the hall with many of the other students. We walked to our dormitory and picked up our History of Magic books. The books were particularly heavy and very thick. Shoving it into my bag, I left the room with Ginger and Megan with me in front. I was almost to the bottom of the stairs

when I heard a squeak behind me. I looked back to see Megan trip and fall onto Ginger, who in turn fell into me. I fell backwards down the last few steps and felt someone catch me.

"Are you okay?" Justin asked.

Gaining my balance back, I stood up. My face was red with embarrassment and I mumbled, "Yeah, I'm fine." I grabbed my bag and headed out of the common room, my face down as not to endure stares from my fellow Hufflepuffs.

Once out of the tapestry, Ginger turned me around and said, "Did you see that?"

"What? Me falling on my arse?"

"No!" said Megan. "Justin. He was smiling at you. I think he fancies you."

"You think?" I asked, starting to walk to class.

"Either that or he likes it when girls fall into him," Ginger laughed.

We walked up the stairs to the first floor and saw there was a small group outside the room waiting for class to start. We didn't have to wait long before the door swung open. Walking in, we looked to see who had opened the door, but found no one. I sat down next to Ginger and Megan sat in front of us. Luna sat next to her and we could hear Megan groan slightly.

The whole class seemed eager to start and we all gasped when our teacher turned out to be a ghost. He wore glasses and there was a bald patch on top of his head. He seemed very old, but then again he was dead.

"Good morning. I am Professor Binns. As many of you may or may not have noticed, I am a ghost. The only ghost teacher at Hogwarts. I died quite some time ago in a staff room fire, but I continue to teach the subject I love so dearly. Now, I will call the roll."

I quickly found out that the most interesting thing that happened in our History of Magic class was the Professor floating through the blackboard. I was really looking forward to this class to find out a lot about the history, which was my favorite subject back in grade school. This was not what I had in mind.

"As many of you may know, the school was founded by four powerful witches and wizards around 993 A.D. Before this time, there was a witch in Ireland named Queen Maeve who used to teach young people who showed a certain magical ability. A few years before the school opened, she died a tragic death when one of her students, who got upset by her criticisms, performed a spell that has rarely been used since this time known as the Suffocating Curse. Now, the names of the witches and wizards who started Hogwarts gave their names to the four houses. There was Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin…"

I leaned over to Ginger and muttered, "I actually think my brain is seeping out of my ears."

She let out a loud snort and everyone turned around to look at her. Turning red, she glanced up at Professor Binns who still continued talking.

After what seemed like forever, the bell rang. As we were all packing up our things and leaving, Professor Binns was still talking about the Ministry of Magic's approval to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts in 1013.

"I thought learning the history of magic would be interesting," I said. "I think now I know which class I can catch up on sleep in."

"Well, you better take some notes for our tests," Ginger said.

"Why take notes when I can copy you," I laughed.

We made our way to the courtyard with the rest of our class. We found a bench and sat down and started talking about what Charms might be like. The courtyard started to fill up quickly with students who were also leaving other classes. I glanced up to see Justin making a beeline for me.

"Dammit," I muttered. I quickly opened my History of Magic book and acted like I was studying.

"Hey, how was your first class?" Justin asked.

"Fine," I replied, still looking in my book. Ginger and Megan were both stifling giggles.

"That's great," he replied, still looking at me.

That didn't last long until a voice said, "_Signed photos? _You're giving out _signed photos_, Potter?"

The boy yelling was way shorter than the two goons that were on either side of him. He had white-blond hair and a very pointed face.

"Who is that?" I muttered to Justin. His face seemed to light up at the fact that I asked him a question.

"Well, the short one is Draco Malfoy. He's in Slytherin, as are the two giants next to him. Their names are Crabbe and Goyle and they are all second years. They aren't a friendly lot."

"Everyone line up!" Draco yelled. "Harry Potter's giving out signed photos!"

"What an arse," I muttered.

"I wouldn't mind a signed photograph," Justin said. I rolled my eyes.

"No, I'm not," Harry said. His face was getting red. "Shut up, Malfoy."

"You're just jealous," a small boy behind Harry squeaked.

"_Jealous_? Of what?" Draco said. "I don't want a foul scar right across my head, thanks. I don't think getting your head cut open makes you that special, myself."

"Lets get out of here," Ginger said. "We'll drop our books off and head to lunch. Then we'll get a good seat."

"Sounds good," I replied, as Ginger, Megan, and I walked back into the castle.

After we had lunch, we left the Great Hall a bit early to find the Charms classroom. Like the History of Magic classroom, it was locked. We waited outside until the rest of the class showed up. Once it seemed like everyone was there, the door magically opened.

This room was far different than the History of Magic classroom. Instead of desks, there were bleacher type seating on both sides of the wall. A long table sat in front of each seat and there was writing on all four walls. The writing looked to be Latin.

"Please take your seats!" came a squeaky voice. I looked around for the source of the voice and found a small man who looked very much like the goblin I met at Gringotts. We all took our seats and prepared ourselves for class.

"Welcome to Charms class everyone! I am Professor Flitwick. Charms is such an expansive and interesting field of study, so we will not cover every single charm. Today, as it is our first class, we will start off simple. We will be doing the Lighting Charm. Now, the incantation is very simple. Without wands, repeat after me. _Lumos_!"

"_Lumos_!" we all said.

"Good! Also, as it is our first day of class I will let you off early after you practiced the spell and have it down. After you learn Lumos, you will have to put

your wand out. The incantation for this is _Nox_!"

"_Nox_!" we all repeated.

"Excellent! Now, after I show you the spell, I want you to practice for thirty minutes. After that I will call you up to my desk one by one to perform the charm. Also, after you are done here, I would like you to read chapter one of your books, _Standard Book of Spells_. I think that's it! Now, start practicing."

Most everyone got their wand to light on the first try. Luna, who evidently found the assignment to be boring, had her head in her hand and was looking up at the ceiling. There were bubbles coming out of the tip of her wand and they flew high above us and never popped.

"Miss Lovegood?" Flitwick asked, walking to her seat.

"Yes, Professor?" she replied, not taking her eyes off her bubbles.

"I'm afraid I'll have to take five points from Ravenclaw for not doing the in-class assignment. Then again, I'll have to award you ten points for your excellent Impenetrable Bubble Charm. We aren't set to learn that until later this term. Congratulations."

Luna smiled at him and continued what she was doing. After about twenty-five minutes, Flitwick began to call us up.

"Miss Brotherton!" he squeaked. I nervously walked up to his desk and had my wand at the ready.

"Go on," he said, his quill in his hand.

"_Lumos_!" I said nervously. A bright light came out the end of my wand, causing Professor Flitwick to shield his eyes.

"Excellent! Now, extinguish the light."

"_Nox_!"

"Very good! Five points for Hufflepuff for the excellent Lighting Charm!" he said, writing down my score on the piece of parchment in front of him.

I smiled and left the room. I had earned my first points for a class. I didn't have to wait long before Ginger and Megan came out, both smiling.

"Well?" I asked.

"We did great!" Ginger replied. "There was only one person who didn't do as well, but I think it was because he was nervous. Do you think Flitwick's

eyebrow will grow back?"

"With magic, anything is possible," Megan replied, smiling at a boy who had just came out of the class with his hair a vibrant pink color.


	6. Herbology, Transfiguration, and Potions

A/N: Sorry for the long time between updating. I've been writing this chapter for about two weeks :-p I just started school, but all my classes are online, so maybe I'll still update a bit more. Also, Matthew Raulston is a friend of mine, as is Nichole. This might be a slightly boring chapter, but oh well. Next chapter will get more interesting with Halloween :)

Herbology, Transfiguration, and Potions

The next day during breakfast, Midge flew down and landed in front of my plate with a small piece of lined paper tied to her leg. After I removed the paper, she took a bit of my toast and flew off. Opening the letter, I knew it was from my childhood friend, Matthew Raulston.

We had been friends since I was three and he was two. His parents had adopted him when he was first born and his own biological parents had died. He and I were always outcasts in school. When my parents split up and I moved to the city, he would try as much as possible to come and visit me.

Then I began to wonder. How did he know I was here? Wouldn't he have freaked out at the sight of an owl showing up at his house?

I began to read the letter with interest:

**Drea,**

**Hey, it's me. Why didn't you tell me that you were going to a school for magic? Your mother came by the house today to see mum and dad and she told me that you were at a school called Hogwarts. I asked her about it, and she said all the weird things that happened (including that incident with your father) was really magic. **

**After she left, my parents shooed me out of the room so they could talk. Naturally, I didn't leave, but stayed outside the door. Then they began to talk about all the weird stuff I had been doing (including the time I saved the cat from the tree without climbing it) and started to wonder if my biological parents were magical. They searched for my adoption papers, but all it said was that my mother's last name was Prewett and my father was unknown. It said under reason for adoption was that my mother had died and as they didn't know who my father was, they put me up for adoption. **

**Well, I have to get going. It's getting late. Hope you write back soon!**

**Matthew**

I smiled as I folded up the paper. A familiar face would be here next year.

"Who wrote it?" Ginger asked.

"One of my friends from home. He thinks he might be a wizard."

"Is he?" asked Megan.

"I think he is. I never thought about it before until now, but he just might be."

"Awesome," Ginger said, finishing off her breakfast.

"What classes do we have today?" I asked.

"Let's see," Ginger said, searching through her bag and pulling out her timetable. "First thing we have Herbology, then Tranfiguration, and after lunch it's Double Potions."

"I think I'll like Potions," I commented, finishing off my eggs.

"I hear the professor is an arse," Megan said, lowering her voice slightly. "My cousin said he favors the Slytherins and can't wait to deduct points from the other houses."

"We have it with the Ravenclaws, so I guess there won't much favortism," Ginger said, folding her timetable and putting it into her bag.

"I wouldn't hold my breath," I said, pointing to a hook nosed teacher (who I assumed was the Potions teacher) taking points from a group of Ravenclaws.

"Let's go get our stuff. Class is outside," Megan said, getting up from the table.

We walked up to our dormitories and grabbed our things and headed out the grounds. It was a fairly crisp day outside, but the sun was shining. Just over a small hill, we saw about ten greenhouses, each with a large number on them indicating which greenhouse it was. We didn't know which greenhouse to go into, so we just stood in the middle with other Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors.

"Greenhouse one!" came a familiar voice. We turned to see Professor Sprout coming our way from a large tree that had many bandages wrapped around it.

_Odd_, I thought.

Professor Sprout unlocked the door to greenhouse one as everyone congregated behind her. She held the door open and many students held their noses as they passed her as she smelled strongly of dung. I actually found the smell enticing; I had always liked gardening.

"Gather round the table! That's it! My name is Professor Sprout and I am the Herbology teacher here at Hogwarts. People may think that Herbology isn't a real important subject, but I beg to differ. Of the course of the next seven years or so, you will see some rare plants that some have never seen before in their lives. Herbology is also very important when it comes to Potions, as many ingredients in potions are herbs, plants, or something that comes from plants in some way or form. Now, for this first semester, and probably into the second, we will be working with some harmless plants. Mainly asphodel, belladonna, aconite, sneezewort, and so on. The main objective is to learn how to grow these plants, as some of them won't grow easily. After the plants have grown to a size in which they are usable, we will dry some of them and will give it to Professor Snape, the Potions teacher, to use in the student-store cupboard. There are pots right there in front of you and there is some dragon dung in the back of the greenhouse as well as some soil. There are also some seeds next to the pots. Everyone got it?" Everyone nodded their heads. "Good. Now get to work."

Throughout the rest of the class period, Professor Sprout came around to each student to see their progress.

"Good job, Miss Brotherton. Most people put too much fertilizer on the belladona when it only needs a thin layer to be happy. Ten points to Hufflepuff."

"Thank you," I replied, not hiding the smile on my face.

"Okay class!" she called after a bit. "The bell is about to ring and if you need to wash yourselves off, go to the sink over in the corner. Also, for anyone that is interested in Herbology, there will be a Herbology Club meeting at the end of this month. Watch your House bulletin boards for more information."

"Are you going to join?" Ginger asked.

"Of course," I replied, rinsing off my gloves.

"Good," came a voice from behind me. We turned around to see Professor Sprout smiling. "I believe Miss Brotherton that you might have a natural knack for Herbology."

I blushed as the bell rang. We gathered our belongings and headed back up to the castle.

"How long until Transfiguration?" Megan asked.

"About twenty minutes. We'll have enough time to go and get our things."

We got our things and headed up to the fifth floor where the Transfiguration classroom was. The door was already open and we walked in to see about half the class already seated. Professor McGonagall was seated at her desk up at the front, peering over her square-rimmed glasses at the class. Once the late bell rang, she got up and stared at the class.

"Welcome to Transfiguration," she started. "I'm Professor McGonagall. Transfiguration is perhaps the most complex magic one can do. For those who don't know, Transfiguration is the art of switching something into a completely different thing. As it is very complex, it is also very dangerous. If anyone thinks it humorous to mess around in my class will be asked to leave," she paused," and never come back. You all have been warned." She turned around and waved her wand over her desk. It instantly turned into a pig and everyone clapped. She gave a hint of a smile at the applause. "Today we will begin small. We will be transfiguring a match into a needle. But first we will take some notes."

After about five pages of notes, she gave us each a match. Ginger, after her third or fourth try, finally turned her match into a needle.

"Good job, Miss Christ. Five points to Hufflepuff," McGonagall said, making notes on her parchment.

I looked down at my needle. It was the shape of a needle, but it was still made out of wood.

"Good effort," McGonagall said, making notes on her parchment again.

Megan's needle, however, had a needle bottom and a match top.

"Good job, Miss Shafur."

As the bell rang, we gathered our stuff and headed to lunch.

"That class sucks," Megan said under breath.

I laughed. "It's okay. She told us it wouldn't be easy. I bet loads of people have trouble with it."

After lunch, we went up to our dormitories and grabbed our things for Potions. I looked in my trunk and noticed my cauldron was gone.

"Hey, where's my cauldron?" I asked the room in general.

"I think that they are already down in the dungeons," Nichole said. Nichole was a first-year Hufflepuff like Ginger, Megan, and I.

"I hate when they take our things without permission," Ginger said jokingly.

We laughed and made our way to the dungeons. It was probably the depressing place that we had seen since arriving at Hogwarts. Water seemed to be leaking from the walls, but yet the floors were dry. Even though the Hufflepuff common room was underground, it had a much more homier feel than here.

We didn't have to wait long before the teacher burst through the door. He was the same teacher who was taking points away from the Ravenclaws earlier that day. He came sweeping through the class, and turned around so quickly, it hurt my neck just to look at it.

"I will begin with roll call," he announced. He called out names and stop to sneer at names he obviously knew.

"You are here to learn the science of potion making," he said, his voice barely audible. "I know many of you think that just because you won't use your wand in this class, that it isn't considered magic. Some won't appreciate the art that is potion making. You probably won't even appreciate the smoke rising from a perfectly brewed Forgetfulness Potion. I can teach you how to brew glory, bottle fame, even put a stopper in death. Then again, I highly doubt any of you will be able to do this," he sneered. He waved his wand and what looked like a recipe appeared on the board in gold letters. "This is your assignment for today. It is a simple Boil-Curing Potion. One of the easiest potions possible. After you are done with your potion," he pointed his wand to a table underneath a cabinet and about twenty glass vials with stoppers appeared, "fill a vial and put your name on it and turn it in. There are dried nettles in the store cupboard. You have one hour. Begin."

I began to take my ingredients out of my bag and picked up the container of stewed horned slugs. I looked closer at it and noticed a crack in the container. Opening it, I noticed my horned slugs were drying up, and fast.

"Oh no," I said. "What am I going to do?" I whispered to Ginger.

"Look in your book and see if there is any possible substitution for it," she whispered back, taking a slug out, her face screwed up in disgust.

I flipped through my book quickly, as not to draw attention to myself. I found a list of possible substitutions and sighed in relief when I saw that you could add a bit of bubotuber pus along with the slugs (according the book, bubotuber pus was mainly used for acne, but when mixed with certain potions could be used to help boils). I looked through my Potions kit and saw no bubotuber pus among any of it.

"I don't have any bubotuber pus," I groaned, counting out porcupine quills.

"Well, when you get the dried nettles, see if he has any in the student store cupboard," Megan said, slicing her slugs.

I went up and glanced through the cupboard quickly. Sure enough, there was bubotuber pus right next to the dried nettles.

I took a small vial of both and headed back to my seat. My cauldron started to simmer and I looked in my book to see when I needed to add the pus, which turned out to be at the end. As I let the cauldron simmer, I looked around the class. Professor Snape was telling Luna Lovegood off because she refused to throw her horned slugs into her cauldron, as she had already named one Sanderford.

"Miss Lovegood," Snape hissed, "please put the slugs into the cauldron."

"No. I rather like them."

The girl sitting next to her seemed to be chopping up a little extra slugs. The girl pushed a bit of slugs to Luna and Professor Snape spat, "Twenty points from Ravenclaw! I do not allow helping in this class."

"Fantastic," Ginger muttered from next to me, her potion, which was supposed to be a bright orange, was a nasty dirt brown color. Professor Snape, on hearing this, flipped around and had us in his sights. With a smirk planted on his face, he slowly strode over to our table.

"Well, Miss Christ, that certainly won't do. It seems to me you put the porcupine quills in before the nettles." Ginger kept her head down and he looked to Megan. "Your potion is mediocre. Not the exact shade of orange a Boil Curing Potion is supposed to be." Then he looked at my cauldron. It was a bright blue, almost white. He sneered. "Miss Brotherton. Your potion is dreadful."

"But I haven't added my last ingredient yet, sir."

"And what would that be?"

"The bubotuber pus," I replied, uncorking the vial.

"That is not part of the potion," he said.

"I know, but my horned slugs didn't have any liquid in the container. In the book, it said I could use bubotuber pus along with the slugs."

"I know what the book says," he spat. "You should follow instructions and not what some book tells you."

I glared at him and held the vial over my cauldron. I tipped the contents into my cauldron and the potion glowed bright purple. A look of triumph crossed over Snape's face before the potion hissed and turned the exact same shade of orange described in the book.

He looked down his nose at the potion and said slowly, "Twenty points from Hufflepuff. You will follow my directions and not the books. Also you will have detention. See me after class," he said, sweeping off to a table full of Ravenclaws.

I sat there with my mouth opened. I just made the potion perfectly, and he took points away! I called him every name in the book as I packed my things up. The bell rang and Ginger and Megan waited outside the door for me. I trudged up to the desk where Snape was sitting, and he finished writing something on a piece of parchment. He took his time writing, and this made me even more impatient. He finally looked up.

"Miss Brotherton, you will serve detention next Thursday. You will replace the bubotuber pus you _stole _from the cabinet. Meet me in my office at seven in the evening."

"Yes, sir," I mumbled.

"What an arseface," Megan said, making rude hand gestures to the closed classroom door.

"Don't worry about it," I said, making my way up the stairs. "Let's just get out of the dungeons. They creep me out."

We climbed the stairs and went out into the courtyard. It was a beautiful day with a light breeze. Shedding my school robes, I sat there looking around the courtyard. It was bare with the exception of a few students. Then I noticed something awkward.

Luna was sitting in the corner of the courtyard and what looked like an older Slytherin student was holding an open ink bottle above her head. Luna had her legs crossed looking up at the bottle as if this happened everyday. I got up and marched over to her.

"My father has told me about you. You're Loony Lovegood. Your father writes that crackpot magazine _The Quibbler_." This got a chuckle out of some of the girl's friends who had just joined her.

"Pansy," Luna said airily, "you're just upset because my father found out that your father was bitten by a Flaming Flargon."

"Whatever, Loony," said Pansy, tipping the bottle a bit more until the ink was right near the edge. I walked a bit faster and grabbed Pansy's wrist. She jumped and looked at me, a look of horror plastered on her face.

"Leave her alone," I hissed.

"What are you going to do about it?" Pansy hissed back, her eyes narrowed.

I suddenly saw red. It was like I was wearing red sunglasses. As soon as I saw the red, Pansy jumped back, dropping the ink bottle on the ground. When my vision came back to normal, I saw Pansy clutching her wrist. I saw a burn mark where my hand had gripped her.

"I'm getting Professor Snape," she yelled, running off in the other direction.

"We better get out of here. He'll be here any minute," Ginger whispered in my ear.

As we were leaving, I heard Luna say, "Shame. I really thought I needed a new hair color."


	7. Detention, Star Charts, and Dangling Cat

A/N: Had some time on my hands this weekend so I put this chapter out. _Abeo chirographum _means "Change Handwriting" in Latin. I know I really went out there for that one :-p Also, in the second book, Mrs. Norris was found on the second floor and I always ask myself why Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were up there as their dormitories are in the dungeons/cellar. So I made my characters go the library as an excuse. :-p Anyways, enjoy!

Detentions, Star Charts, and Dangling Cats

The following Thursday, after dinner, I trudged down to the dungeons for my detention. The dungeons seemed extra creepy when night fell. I found Snape's office and knocked.

"Come in," he said in a cool voice.

I walked in and a small table was situated in the middle of the room. Upon it, sat a bowl of what looked like large black slugs.

"I thought I was supposed to be collecting pus from bubotubers," I said, sitting in the chair.

Snape smirked. "Those are bubotubers, Miss Brotherton. You would think someone as _smart _as you would know that," he replied coolly. "Put the gloves on. I don't want you to rush out of here with boils sprouting up all over your hands and miss your detention."

I glared at him and went to work. The work was rather gross, as to collect the pus, you had to squeeze the large bumps like a pimple. And the smell didn't help either. It smelled of petrol and after about an hour of working with it, it made me very light headed. Apparently Snape noticed this.

"I think that will do," he said after I had filled about a dozen containers of the pus.

I nodded and cleaned up my work. I went back to my dormitory and straight up the stairs to my room. Even though it was barely nine o'clock, I went straight to sleep.

The next month passed by quickly and the homework piled up just as fast. Halloween was the next day, and the whole castle seemed excited. Even the students who had colds and had to go to Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, seemed excited even though their ears had smoke poring out of them.

"How long does the Transfiguration essay have to be?" Megan asked one day. We had spent the better part of the evening working on the essay and had barely made any progress. The common room was slowly emptying, with the exception of the first years, as we had Astronomy up on the tower at midnight.

"Two feet," Ginger replied, rolling her three foot parchment up.

Megan glared at her and asked me, "Did you get that planet chart done?"

"What?"

"Your star chart for Astronomy. We had to place the planets and their moons."

My heart fell. "No, I didn't get it done!" I rummaged through my bag and found a completely blank chart. "What am I going to do?"

"I don't know, but you have to get it done in, like, five minutes. That's when we absolutely have to leave," Ginger said, putting her books away.

"What's wrong?" came a familiar voice. I turned around to see Justin standing behind me, a look of worry on his face.

"I have to go to class in five minutes and I don't even have one planet down on the chart," I groaned, placing my face in my hands.

Ginger and Megan got up, leaving me alone with Justin. He looked around the room and muttered, "Come up to my room. I think I can help you."

"What?"

"Just follow me," he instructed, going through the door to the dormitories.

I hesitated. It was my last hope, so I followed him, making sure no one saw me go up the boys' stairs. Going up the stairs, I saw him standing outside the sixth door I passed.

Opening the door a bit, he glanced inside. "Good, no one's in here," he muttered and went inside. I followed him.

The boys dormitory looked exactly like the girls, but it had a bit more of a masculine feel to it. There were some Quidditch posters by a few of the boys' beds. Justin walked to his trunk, which was next to the window and started to rummage through it.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Just a second," he replied. "Yes! Here it is!" he said, pulling out a piece of parchment. He handed it to me and I looked it over.

It was a planet map with all the names filled in.

"I'm sort of a pack rat and keep everything from Hogwarts."

"What can I do with this? Professor Sinistra will know it's not my handwriting."

He looked to the door again to make sure no one was coming in. He went to his trunk and pulled out a quill and a bottle of ink. "Write your name on the parchment," he instructed. I did as I was told and he pulled out his wand and pressed it to the parchment.

"_Abeo chirographum_!" he muttered. Suddenly, his writing disappeared and mine filled the page as if an invisible hand was writing. In mere seconds, I noticed the whole page filled with my writing, as if Justin had never filled it in.

"Don't tell Ernie. He would flip," he said, smiling.

"Why are you doing this for me?" I asked, feeling bad about treating him so badly since I got to Hogwarts.

"Well, you needed it more than I did."

Tears welled up in my eyes and I threw my arms around him. I was saved and he helped me. The door behind us opened and we heard someone clear his throat.

"What are you two doing?" Ernie Macmillian asked from the doorway, looking at me suspiciously. I removed my arms from around Justin and blushed furiously.

"Nothing, Ern," Justin replied, also blushing.

"She's not supposed to be up here. She's a _girl_."

"Fine. We'll leave then," Justin replied, pushing me gently toward the door. After shutting the door, he whispered, "Sometimes Ernie is a stickler for rules."

"I can tell. So are you sure the answers are right on this?" I asked, pointing to the chart.

"Well, I hope they are as I copied it from Ernie last year," Justin laughed.

The next day, everyone seemed to be in an uproar. The Great Hall did nothing to help as it was decked out in Halloween decorations. There were humongous pumpkins in every corner of the Great Hall. Real live bats fluttered above us like owls delivering mail. There was even some talk that Dumbledore hired skeletons to perform during the feast.

During Charms, our last class of the day, no one could concentrate. Instead, Flitwick gave us a free day to practice the spells we've learned over the past month or so. Megan and I spent most of the time practicing Wingardium Leviosa, while Ginger went ahead and started practicing non-burning fire charms.

After class, we dropped our things off in the dormitory and waited until it was time for the feast. Just when we were about to leave, Justin came up to me.

"Do you mind if I sit with you at the feast? Ernie's is being a bit of a prat about last night."

"Sure, no problem," I replied as we set off for the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was decorated even more than before. There were more huge pumpkins. Their faces were lit by equally huge candles. There were more bats and the Great Hall seemed darker with them flapping about. The same plates and goblets used at the Welcoming Feast were out and gleaming bright. All the teachers were at the Head Table, looking excited.

As soon as everyone was seated, Professor Dumbledore stood up. The room went quiet in an instant.

"Another Halloween. Another great feast. Tonight, while we eat, we will have some entertainment." He waved his hand, and from a door next to the staff table, a half a dozen skeletons came out. Everyone clapped wildly and Dumbledore continued, "Now, let us dig into this magnificent feast!"

The food appeared like it did on my first night at Hogwarts. The dishes had Halloween decorations in them, and as soon we started eating, the skeletons started to dance. It was hard to eat and watch them at the same time, as they were so entertaining.

While I was piling my plate with roast chicken, I started to see something. I wasn't in the Great Hall anymore. Instead, I was on the second floor. I saw a bathroom that had an "Out of Order" sign hanging on the door. I looked around and saw, written on the wall, "The Chamber of Secrets." There was more to the message, but as I was about to read the rest of the message, I was back in the Great Hall.

"Drea? You okay?" Megan asked.

"What's the Chamber of Secrets?" I asked, shaking my head slightly, trying to clear my head.

Ginger and Megan both shrugged, as did Justin.

"What happened?" Ginger asked. "You sort of went into a trance and then you started again like nothing happened."

"It was nothing," I lied. "I just thought I saw something," I finished lamely.

"Okay then."

We finished eating and as everyone was getting up, I wondered aloud, "Where have I heard the Chamber of Secrets before?"

"Maybe it was in _Hogwarts: A History_," Megan suggested.

"Maybe that was it. I left my copy at home though. Ging, do you still have yours?"

"Nope, I left mine at home as well."

"You think it's too late to head to the library to check it out?"

"We still have an hour before curfew, so I think it's still open."

We headed up the stairs with all the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. When we got to the second floor, everyone ahead of us fell silent.

"What's going on?" I asked Justin, who was a bit taller than us and could see over everyone's head.

"There's a cat hanging from a torch holder!" Ginger made a squeaking noise and turned around, she didn't want to see it. "Oh my…it's Mrs. Norris!"

"Who's Mrs. Norris?"

"It's Filch's cat. She lurks around everywhere, waiting for students to cause trouble. Wait a minute," he said, craning his neck a bit to the left. "Harry Potter's up there!"

A slight part in the crowd let me see that Harry Potter, a red haired boy, and a bushy haired girl were standing just below the dangling cat. On the wall, there was red writing that said:

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN

OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

After reading the first few words, my heart fell. I had seen the message a mere hour or so ago and now here I was looking at it. I saw Ginger, Megan, and Justin shoot me a sideways glance. Suddenly, a cool, drawling shout broke the silence. It was Draco Malfoy.

"Enemies of the Heir , beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

Megan gasped next to me, as did some of the others around me.

"What's a Mudblood?" Ginger asked.

"It's an awful name for a person of Muggle ancestry, like you guys. Only snooty Pureblood families use the word. To them it means 'dirty blood.'"

Before we could say anything in response, a crotchety man came running through the crowd.

"What's going on here? What's going on?" The man's eyes fell upon the cat. He then shrieked, "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" Then, as if to blame the closest person, his eyes fell on Harry. "_You!_ _You! _You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll--"

"_Argus_!"

As if appearing from nowhere, Professor Dumbledore appeared next to Mr. Filch. Without looking at anyone, he strode purposely toward the cat. He detached the feline and walked over to Filch and whispered something we couldn't hear.

Gilderoy Lockhart strode forward and said, "My office is nearest, Headmaster--just upstairs--please feel free--"

"Thank you, Gilderoy," Dumbledore replied. Dumbledore parted the crowd with Gilderoy hot on his heels. Professors McGonagall and Snape followed them.

"Okay, everyone!" yelled Professor Sprout in a shaky voice. "Back to your dormitories now!"

Grudgingly, people started to turn and walk away. They wanted to stay and find out what the Chamber of Secrets was.

"First thing tomorrow," I said to Ginger and Megan, "I'm going to the library."


	8. Salazar, Luna, and the Weird Spiders

A/N: I don't really have much of an A/N, except to say enjoy and sorry for the shortness of this chapter. I was going to incorporate some of next chapter, but I decided against it. Oh well...enjoy :)

The next morning, Ginger, Megan and I skipped breakfast to go the library. There was a small queue in front of the desk of students. Once we got to the front, Madam Pince, the irritable librarian that looked exactly like a vulture, she sighed and said, "_Hogwarts: A History _I presume?"

"Yes, please," I replied. She bustled off and within a minute came back with the large book.

"You're lucky. You got the last one. People have been bugging it for me all morning," she said and went back to dusting the books behind her.

We headed for a nearby table with no students and looked in the index.

"Page four," I muttered, flipping back through the pages at the beginning of the book. When I got to page four, there was a picture of a man with a long beard. He had the facial features of a monkey, most notably his prominent forehead. He sat staring straight ahead, and for a moment I thought the picture couldn't move until he looked at me in disgust. Underneath the picture, it stated the man's name, Salazar Slytherin.

"He must be the founder of the house," Megan said.

"Must be," I replied. I continued to read.

_Salazar Slytherin, probably the most antisocial amongst the Founding Four, was born in Norfolk. He is probably one of the most famous Parselmouths (the ability to converse with snakes) known today. Upon naming his house, he decided that only pure-bloods should be allowed in Hogwarts, which cause many debates between the founders._

_One day, Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor had a rather large argument and Godric asked him never to return. But not before Salazar built a hidden chamber in the school, known as the Chamber of Secrets. According to legend, only Slytherin's true heir could be able to open it and unleash a horrible monster to finish his "noble purpose" and rid all the school of his main enemy. Muggle-borns._

_Salazar, after his flight from Hogwarts, seemed to fall off the face of the earth, along with his wife Slovenia and his two sons, Seoras and Sonnagh._

"He sounds like a fellow you want to be around," Megan said.

"But why was I standing in front of the wall with the message on it?" I asked. "Is there a way to magically appear in another place?"

"Well, there is Apparating," Megan suggested. "You can appear in one spot within seconds."

"But you can't do that in Hogwarts," Ginger said, taking the book from me. She flipped a few pages and read aloud, " 'There is no possible way to enter Hogwarts magically, due to the many charms and wards that protect it.' See? So you can't Apparate in and out of the school."

"Then I don't know," I replied, leaning back in my chair.

"Did you see anything else?" Megan whispered. Madam Pince was lurking behind a stack of shelves.

"All I remember seeing was the second floor girls' bathroom and the Chamber of Secrets written on the wall. I didn't see the whole message until we went up the stairs."

"Did you see who wrote it on the wall?"

"No."

"Do you think maybe it could be Harry Potter?" Ginger asked.

"I doubt it," Megan replied. "He defeated You-Know-Who. Why would he open it and hurt all Muggle-borns, the very people that You-Know-Who is trying to kill?"

"I guess you're right. He did look pretty shocked when everyone came up the stairs."

"Come on," I said, checking my watch, "we have to be at flying lessons in five minutes."

Earlier in the week, a notice had been placed on the common room bulletin board saying we had flying lessons with Ravenclaws starting today.

"Well, at least it will be interesting," Megan pointed out.

"How so?" I replied.

"Luna Lovegood," she laughed.

When we got down to the area where we were instructed to go, a few Ravenclaws were talking amongst each other. Luna was sitting on the ground, idly picking grass.

"Gather around!" came an unfamiliar voice.

Coming down the lawn was a lady with short, spiky gray hair. She was levitating brooms in front of her. She flicked her wand and all the brooms went into two lines of ten.

"I usually have them out already, but I had to deal with a Bludger that got loose."

"Bludger?" I asked Megan.

"It's a ball in the game of Quidditch. I'll explain later."

"I'm Madam Hooch, your flying instructor. You will have seven lessons with me in this class, spaced out over the course of the year. Today we will begin with the basics. Everyone step up to the left side of your broomstick. Now place your right hand over the broom and say 'up!'"

"UP!" everyone said. A few people's brooms shot to their hands, including Megan's. After the third or forth try, my broom shot straight into my hand.

After everyone had their broom in their hands, Madam Hooch said, "Good! Now mount your brooms!"

Everyone did as they were told. Except Luna.

"Ahh...here we go," Megan whispered.

"Why aren't you mounting your broom?" Madam Hooch asked, walking over to Luna.

"Can we do it sidesaddle?" she asked in an airy voice.

"Pardon me?"

"Well, I don't want everyone to get a look at my knickers," she replied airily. This caused many laughs and Madam Hooch held the bridge of her nose between her index finger and her thumb.

"No, you cannot ride sidesaddle. Everyone else will be in the air and no one will be looking at your…knickers," Madam Hooch replied.

"Now, at the count of three, everyone kicked off from the ground hard! One, two, three!"

Everyone did as they were told. Some flew higher than others, while some barely left the ground. It was the weirdest feeling I had ever felt. It was a good weird feeling though. The gentle wind hit my face and I could see for miles on either side of me (even though there wasn't really anything to see; there was a forest on one side and the castle on the other).

"Excellent! Now touch back down by slowly easing forward on your broom," Madam Hooch called.

We did as we were told and everyone touched down. Some people got a little carried away and were now picking themselves up off the ground.

"That was very good for your first time," Madam Hooch said. "Now, for the rest of the lesson, we'll continue practicing what you just did, and maybe some of you will be a little more graceful," she added, smiling down at a Ravenclaw girl who was blushing furiously.

We continued for the rest of the lesson and after about an hour, we touched back down.

"Great! Now our next lesson will be next week at the same time," said Madam Hooch, taking the broomsticks from us.

On our way back up to the castle, Megan kept her word and started to explain the game Quidditch.

"There are four balls. A Quaffle, two Bludgers, and a Snitch. There are seven players on each team; three Chasers, two Beaters, a Keeper, and a Seeker. The Chasers pass the Quaffle between each other and try to put it past the other team's…"

But what they had to put it past was drowned out in a shriek that came from Ginger.

"What's wrong?" I asked, stopping to see what the matter was.

"Nothing. It was a spider. I scratched my head and it was there. It just freaked me out, that's all," she replied, taking the spider out of her hair and placing it on the ground. That's when I noticed that there was a small group of spiders and they were all scurrying away in a straight line.

"Is that normal?" Megan asked.

"I don't think so. Spiders don't usually travel in packs," I replied, still watching the spiders act oddly.

"Then again, this is Hogwarts. Weird things are always bound to happen," Ginger said, looking towards a guy that had a rather large wart sprouting from his nose.


End file.
